By Dena adi/sports editor

TCC intramural basketball came to an end April 2 after defending champion South Campus took the title again at the two-day district tournament.

4’s Up, South’s team, finished the tournament undefeated, beating out three other campuses.

NW didn’t participate in this year’s tournament, so the runner-up of South’s competition took its place, identified as “South II.”

The tournament came down to one game between the last two undefeated teams: South and NE. South, starting the game off strong, secured a 13-point lead just 10 minutes in the game. NE still delivered, answering a South alley-oop from Marcus Mcadoo to Chris Franklin with one of its own from NE’s Ceasar Martinez to David Rosenau.

NE came out of halftime with a vengeance, cutting South’s lead after a 10-4 run.

The last two minutes proved the most exciting. NE picked up momentum after South’s Franklin stole the ball then missed a dunk attempt. NE rebounded and drove it down the court for a Rosenau layup.

The late efforts weren’t enough, though, as South ran out the clock and prevailed 67-63 winning the district title for the second year in a row.

Despite the championship win, South’s Franklin wasn’t pleased with the score.

“We just won by four points. That’s ridiculous.  That’s it,” he said.

NE’s Hernandez was still happy with his team and its second-place trophy.

“It was a good season,” he said. “I’m not disappointed at all because they [South] had a really good team. I mean, we played as good as we could have.”

4’s Up represented South Campus and was awarded with the first-place trophy and “District Champion” T-shirts as the reigning intramural basketball champions. NE came in second, SE in third, South II in fourth and TR in fifth.

SE came just short in its controversial loss against NE in the first game of day two. Down by two

at halftime, NE fought to pick up its momentum to keep its undefeated streak against a hungry SE team.

The second half was just as close with the largest lead of either team being by three. Down by two with nine seconds left, Quinten Houston drove to the basket and made a layup to tie the game.

However, his success was short-lived after he was called for delay of game after continually reaching for the ball before the next play began. It is a penalty for a defensive player to touch the ball before the opposing team releases the throw-in.

“I repeatedly told him not to slap the ball,” referee, LC Walker said.

Hernandez made one of two technical foul shots putting NE up 64-63 with three seconds remaining. NE advanced in the tournament, winning 66-65.

Houston was regretful of his costly mistake.

“I slapped the ball to the man because it’s a natural instinct for street ball, and I forgot he said not to touch the ball again,” he said. “It’s my fault, but if we played defense, we wouldn’t have lost.”